Real Madrid boss Solari hails duo ahead of Girona clash

Real Madrid boss Santiago Solari has hailed the progress made by Vinicius Junior and insists his team mates deserve credit for his development.

The Brazilian forward, just 18 years old, has scored two goals in 12 LaLiga appearances this season and his performances in all competitions have helped to justify the club’s reported £45million outlay for him last year.

Vinicius played 81 minutes of Madrid’s 2-1 first-leg win at Ajax in the Champions League this week and Solari was full of praise for the way he has established himself at Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid will be looking to narrow the gap on league leaders Barcelona to three points in Sunday’s early kick-off, ahead of the champions playing later in the day.

“We’re all in really good shape. We just love competing and this is an exciting stage of the season. We’re united and are fully focused on the target of winning,” said Solari.

“We know that Girona are a very dangerous side, with a really specific system, which they execute very well. We’ll need to be focused and alert throughout the whole 90 minutes. We look forward to tomorrow’s game to go out and compete and give our all”.

“(What Barcelona do) doesn’t depend on us. What we can control is when we take to the pitch tomorrow at 12:00 noon.”